Grist for the Rumor Mill
by thinktink2
Summary: How does the precinct reconcile what happened in the hallway between Nick, Adalind, and Juliette? Companion to "Outside, Looking In" and "Hazard Duty"
1. Chapter 1

AN: In case you don't know, ficlets mean procrastination for longer stories that are giving me fits. At any given time there are about three fics being worked on, of various lengths and usually two out of the three _might_ make it to this site. So here's another one in hopes I work through one of those other ones and make some progress.

Plus I've always wondered how this might have played out.

%%%%%%%

"Did you see the woman Burkhardt left with the other day?"

"No, I heard about her, though. Some lover's spat? Gibson said there was some big incident in the hallway. Said he thought they were going to have to cuff his girlfriend, she was so angry."

"I doubt she's his girlfriend now."

"The woman that was pregnant?"

"Yeah, looked pretty far along, too."

"Gibson said Burkhardt was pretty upset she showed up at the office looking for him."

"Busted," and that voice sounded like Mickelson's.

"Isn't she the woman he was assigned to protect during that murder case at the law firm?" He thought that was Cooper. Nick stared at his oatmeal, suddenly looking doubly unappealing in light of the present conversation. They had obviously noticed him come into the cafeteria, and Nick was reminded of all the reasons why he rarely frequented the police cafeteria (quality of the food, chief among them). It was like when he was a teenager, starting yet another new school and the conversation and the looks he would endure as the new kid, the orphan with the sad story and a rag tag existence, or at least it seemed until people got to know him.

Of course, he was far enough away from them, standing in line, that they thought he couldn't hear them. Sometimes the enhanced abilities he possessed as a Grimm weren't all they were cracked up to be.

"She's a lawyer?" That sounded like Bauer.

"Yeah, apparently."

"I thought she was the woman Hank was involved with."

"Maybe they're sharing her or taking turns." Nick rolled his eyes in disgust and wished Donner would hurry up and decide on his fruit cup so the line could get moving.

"No, I'm pretty sure I saw her with the captain a couple of times."

"She sure gets around."

"Obviously Burkhardt's not getting enough at home."

"Maybe Burkhardt likes a woman with no inhibitions."

"Christ, Mickelson."

"Have you seen her? I'd hit that." Mickelson retorted.

"Wasn't she a murder suspect in a case?" Cooper interjected.

"What?"

"Yeah, pretty sure there was a bulletin on her."

"What are you guys talking about?" That sounded like Natchez, he thought, but didn't look.

"Burkhardt's whore," Mickelson replied and while he wouldn't disagree with Mickelson's assessment of Adalind's character, he still wished he would shut the hell up.

"What?" Natchez exclaimed.

"Yeah, you didn't hear? Apparently he knocked her up, too. She came to the station looking for him the other day and his girlfriend showed up, too."

"Holy shit, man," Natchez breathed. "You sure?"

"Yup, Gibson saw it all go down." And half the fourth floor, Nick thought despondently.

"Wow, so Burkhardt's been playing with a little badge bunny on the side? When did this happen?" Natchez asked the group.

"I think it's been going on since he was assigned to protect her." Cooper announced. "Think about it."

"What? No way, that was like three years ago." Mickelson dismissed.

"Hey man, stranger things have happened." Cooper replied.

"Didn't see it happening with him though. He always seemed pretty happy and committed with Juliette. Talks about her all the time, or he did." Bauer commented.

"That his girlfriend?" Natchez asked.

"Yeah." Bauer confirmed.

"Used to be," Mickelson added with a touch of glee. "You ever seen her? There's a fine woman."

"I heard they had been having problems," Cooper relayed.

"Yeah, I heard they even broke up a while ago," Bauer agreed.

"Yeah, but they got back together."

"And this other woman, Burkhardt knocked her up?" Natchez insisted. Yes, Natchez, Nick thought, feeling sick to his stomach. Not by choice, though.

"Looks like."

"Maybe it happened while they were on a break," Bauer offered.

"No, I think he and Juliette had been back together for a while now," Cooper dismissed.

"Yeah, that breakup happened like over a year ago. They've been together since that thing with those crazy drug addicts? Remember? Didn't you and Holtby interview her about some death in a bar fight and Burkhardt was at the house?"

"Wow, shame for Juliette. She deserved better," Cooper remarked and he heard the other guys murmur in agreement. He shoved his tray down the line roughly, bumping into a guy from Vice ahead of him. Nick flashed a pained smile and muttered an apology.

"What's the baby-mama like?"

"Hot, man, a little snooty, but yeah I can see why he wanted to tap that," and that was Mickelson again.

"I think she pursued him. She's got a thing for officers."

"What's so damn special about him?"

"He kept her alive."

"Apparently she was grateful," Cooper said with a snicker.

"Apparently Burkhardt thought he was deserving of a little gratitude," Natchez added.

Nick looked down at the tray he was holding and thought what he wouldn't give to bash it over Natchez's head. Repeatedly. Mickelson's too, if there was anything left of it, especially when he heard his next comment.

"You see her? I wouldn't have said no either. Damn, she looks like she gives as good as she gets."

He could attest to that, allowing a moment to think about the afternoon when he had unwittingly slept with her and set this whole thing in motion. He hadn't thought about that afternoon in a while, but since Adalind had showed up at the station he had been haunted by it. He quickly pushed the images that flashed in his memory to the back of his mind.

"You really think it's been going on since that case?" Bauer asked incredulously.

"Think about it, where else did he meet her? What other reasons could there be?" Cooper returned and Nick sighed. You couldn't even begin to imagine the other reasons, Nick thought. There was no way to defend himself from this onslaught on his character. No justification he could offer.

 _He didn't know it wasn't Juliette?_ To all intents and purposes, with a fair portion of the department now having seen Adalind, there was no way he could even remotely, plausibly, claim to have mistaken one for the other even if he thought anyone might believe such a ridiculous excuse. They were as different as night and day, in every way possible. In actuality, that he might have had an affair with another woman and had gotten her pregnant was the easiest excuse to explain away the bizarre turn his life had taken to the Kehrseite world. At best he might be able to claim he was drunk (he wished) and didn't know what he was doing. Adalind roofied him? (And boy did she roofie him, he thought sourly).

"I think every time he and Juliette have problems he goes running back to his mistress. Remember not too long ago when the captain was shot at his house and they found that dead FBI agent?" Cooper said.

"Yeah, there's something weird going on there," Natchez agreed.

"There usually is with him. I mean, hasn't he been investigated before?" Mickelson put in.

"He was arrested once, remember those two dead FBI agents?" Cooper offered.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that."

"They never found any evidence to hold him. He was cleared of all charges," Bauer pointed out.

"Still, not the first time he's been investigated," Cooper said.

"Anyway, you think the woman looked as though she might be about that far along," Bauer finished and he thought he saw Cooper nod out of the corner of his eye.

"Gibson said she looked like she was about seven or eight months."

"So much for hitting it and quitting it," Mickelson remarked and Nick thought about how much he'd like to hit him and then quit this room. Was breakfast really worth this? He hadn't slept worth a damn last night, what with trying to come to grips with the fact that he had apparently fathered a child with his worst enemy. Said enemy asking for his help protecting the baby from his vengeful Hexenbiest ex, and then Juliette torching his aunt's trailer. He had spent half the night emptying its contents and making arrangements for Adalind's safety and then the rest staring at the ceiling wondering what the hell he was going to do about having a child with the Hexenbiest that had tried and possibly succeeded in ruining his life on multiple occasions, and the other Hexenbiest that was intent on ruining his and everyone else's.

After the gallon of coffee he had consumed in order to try and wake up, he had thought maybe some food would help his queasy stomach, although he didn't think the coffee was to blame for that.

"Wait a sec, didn't he go off on some perp a couple of years ago on another protection detail. Some pretty little thing. The guy was some sort of street artist. Madsen said Burkhardt had seemed a little too invested in her protection."

Oh great. They thought he had some pattern of behavior with witnesses.

"He sure goes above and beyond, doesn't he," Mickelson commented.

"I don't think he and Juliette were involved then," Cooper added.

Goddamn what was taking so long at the register? He glared at the back of the officer's head who apparently was paying for his purchase with all the coins he had collected from his couch cushions over the last six years. How long was he going to be forced to listen to this insufferable nonsense?

He finally reached the checkout and paid for his breakfast, half tempted to dump it in the trash next to the counter on his way out of the cafeteria, having lost his appetite. No way he was going to sit in here and eat it, although maybe if he picked some place close to them they might actually just shut the hell up. He grabbed the bowl and laid the tray on the shelf for them and headed for the doors, with the intention of trying to choke it down at his desk. He had plenty to do anyway.

"Hey Burkhardt!" and that was Mickelson, the ass, who had shouted his name. Nick sighed, and turned, Mickelson looking like he was trying to hold back a grin.

"I heard about your two lives colliding the other day," he said with a raised eyebrow. Cooper and Bauer looked like they might have choked on their egg sandwiches, and Nick was fairly certain Natchez kicked Mickelson judging by the sound and reaction. "Tough break," Mickelson added and Nick narrowed his eyes at him, wishing he hadn't given up his food tray so quickly.

"What two lives would you be referring to?" Nick asked coolly, thinking Mickelson was closer to the truth than he knew. The Wesen world he lived in had nearly spilled over into the Kehrseite with Juliette's appearance in the hallway and he had been worried as to how much she would hold back, or how much she _could_ hold back, although it was becoming readily apparent it was a choice she made and not for lack of ability.

"You know, the mistress and the girlfriend having a throw down upstairs."

"It's none of your business, Mickelson."

"It is when your love life affects the whole floor."

Not for the first time, he hated Adalind. The situation with her was so farfetched he didn't know how he could ever reconcile it, except every time he looked at her, there it was, staring him in the face. A baby. His baby. With her. If Mickelson and his gang of idiots only knew the truth. Of course if they knew how sickened and in shock he was about Adalind's pregnancy they would probably assume it was only because he didn't want to take responsibility for his actions.

Of course, he still wasn't sure what responsibility he wanted to take for what were _her_ actions. If it had been anyone else carrying his child, he wouldn't hesitate to do the right thing, take responsibility for the baby and care for it.

The woman he hated most in the world was going to bear him a son and he had a hard time wrapping his head around it, so sue him.

Despite everything that had transpired between Nick and Adalind, though, the child _was_ innocent. It didn't ask to have two fuckwits for parents, or least of all to be born to a Grimm and a Hexenbiest, and not only that but the Grimm and Hexenbiest that had spent the better part of the last four and half years trying to ruin each other's lives, heedless of the mindless destruction they were causing.

Perhaps it was best to take Adalind out of the equation and just focus on the baby, except that was easier said than done when Adalind was so evidently a large factor in the equation. He didn't know how she was handling the fact she was having a child with him so well, but then again she had had months to come to terms with the baby's parentage, not the two days he had to come to grips with it. Jesus, had it really been only a couple of days ago, he had stood in Renard's office while she told him he had fathered a child with her?

Not to mention she wasn't letting him forget the child was his, judging by her comment to Bud last night. Not that he could if he wanted to. Everywhere he looked he saw Adalind and her sizeable baby bump. Felt the phantom movements of the baby under his hand, as it had kicked furiously. He was an active little guy, or at least he had been in Renard's office. Maybe he had sensed the tension in the room. Maybe he was trying to catch Nick's attention. _Help me! Don't leave me alone to be raised by her._

He had always wanted children one day and this is how it happened. He had no idea how this would even work between them. _If_ it would even work between them. He doubted it.

"Thought of a name yet?" Mickelson asked with another smug look and Nick refocused his attention back to him.

Names. He nearly snorted. Right now he was just focused on keeping the baby and Adalind alive long enough to be born and not have a nervous breakdown with all the shit that had been dealt his way.

"Mickelson, anyone ever tell you what an ass you are?" Nick asked him and was saved from having to listen to anymore of Mickelson's crap when his phone rang.

It was Hank. Nick resumed his trek to the doors.

"Yeah, Hank, what's up?"

"We got a robbery in the north." Nick let out a deep breath and tossed his oatmeal in the trash.

"On my way," Nick said glad for something else to concentrate on rather than Mickelson, and Adalind or the baby and the descent into hell his life had become.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Still procrastinating, as you can see.

%%%%%%

"Can I help you?"

Adalind turned her head and the met the eyes of the officer, another detective she guessed, judging by his plainclothes appearance, who asked the question. He checked her out, looking her over slowly, eyes lingering on the baby on her hip and she suppressed a smirk. Nothing that repelled most men more than a woman with a baby. Fortunately, that wasn't true about _all_ men, or at least the one that mattered to her. Of course, it was his baby, but still, Nick had never struck her as the type to be intimidated by a woman with a child if he was interested in her.

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for Nick—er, Detective Burkhardt," she said, helping herself to a seat at Nick's desk. She settled Kelly in her lap and then snatched Nick's pen away before Kelly could wield it as a deadly weapon. Kelly made a sound of frustration, and she bounced him lightly on her lap in an effort to soothe him. It didn't work.

"I think he's interviewing a witness," and she nodded, trying to hang on to Kelly as he attempted to wriggle off her lap.

"That's okay, I can wait," she said, adjusting her hold on Kelly and resettling him again. He began to fuss and she pulled a pacifier from her pocket and stuck it in his mouth. She glanced up to find the officer still watching her closely and plastered on a smile.

"Can I tell him who's looking for him?" the officer offered politely.

"His lunch date," she said. "He'll know who it is. If he's busy, don't worry about it," she said, and the officer nodded and disappeared, presumably towards interrogation.

%%%%%%%%

Someone rapped on the door in observation and Nick turned as Pogue opened it and stuck his head through.

"Hey Burkhardt, some woman's looking for you. Says she's your lunch date."

"Crap," Nick said, looking at his watch. It was eleven after twelve and he had completely forgotten about asking Adalind to lunch earlier.

"Tell her I'll just be a few minutes," Nick told Pogue and Pogue nodded and started to leave when Mickelson piped up.

"Is she hot?"

"Yeah, kind of," Pogue replied. "Got a baby with her. Your son?" he asked Nick.

"Damn," Mickelson said, disappointed, and Nick rolled his eyes in irritation, unseen by him.

"I don't know man," Pogue said, "I wouldn't be too quick to judge on that. If you're busy here, I don't mind to take her to lunch," Pogue added to Nick with a teasing smile and Nick gave him a look.

"I'll just be a few minutes," he said again and Pogue smiled wider.

"I'll let her know," he said, and left.

"I can finish up here if you want to hurry and meet Adalind for lunch," Hank offered and Nick nodded as he noticed Mickelson's not subtle eavesdropping. Nick frowned, doubly annoyed that the case he and Hank were working had to involve him. Mickelson had found the witness after a three-day search by the department and had hung around to watch the interrogation. "We can pick it up again after lunch. I'll see if I can get an address on the wife's sister while you're gone."

"Okay," Nick agreed. "Let's finish up with the witness and we can break for lunch."

%%%%%%%%

"Sorry I'm late," Nick said by way of greeting. It was now almost twenty-five minutes past noon and Adalind had been waiting on Nick to show for lunch for thirty minutes.

"It's okay," she said. "Busy day?" Nick nodded, tossing a folder on his desk behind her. He leaned down and gave Kelly a tickle, eliciting a smile, before hefting him up.

"We can always reschedule for another day," Adalind said. Nick shook his head.

"You've waited thirty minutes. I'm starving, I'm sure you are too. Where do you want to eat?" he asked her.

"Dewitt's?" she suggested and Nick nodded.

"Sounds good. We'll take my car," he said and Adalind stood, gathering Kelly's baby bag and their coats. "Where did you park?"

"Parking garage," she said and Nick nodded, guiding her out of the department and towards the elevator doors. An arm reached out from the confines to hold them as they started to close and Adalind stepped on with a smile and a thank you, Nick opening his mouth in acknowledgment also before the intention was replaced with a scowl.

"You're welcome," Mickelson said, checking out Adalind before turning his attention to Nick and Kelly. Natchez stood beside him, also carefully observing the occupants in that way all detectives come to view their environments at one point or another.

"This your son?" Mickelson asked him and Nick gave a short nod.

"You must be Burkhardt's girl," Natchez said turning his attention to Adalind and she smiled and nodded.

"Adalind," she introduced and Natchez nodded.

"I'm Natchez and this is Mickelson," Natchez offered.

"Nice to meet you," Adalind said politely eyes glancing up at Nick and registering the expression on his face.

"Kid got a name?" Mickelson asked.

"Kelly," she said after a beat, no doubt wondering why Nick was making that face.

"So I understand you're a lawyer?" Natchez said, and Adalind pulled her eyes away from Nick and back to her speaker. Mickelson attempted to make inroads with Kelly, who merely stared back at him as though confused. Nick adjusted his heavy weight against his side and patted his son's back, gratified whether or not Kelly understood what an asshole Mickelson was, that at least he was instinctively wary of his friendly attempts. _That's my boy,_ Nick thought.

"I was. I took some time off while I had Kelly. Getting ready to go back to work soon, as a matter of fact," she said and Nick impatiently watched the floors tick down as Kelly turned his attention away from Mickelson and back to his father. He babbled something mostly incoherent to Nick, fingering George, which Nick took to be an assessment on Mickelson's character and how it was lacking, and Nick nodded in agreement. Kelly looked up at Nick as though they had come to some sort of understanding.

Adalind turned her attention again to Nick and her son, reaching around Nick and pulling down Kelly's shirt where it had ridden up due to Nick's arm and Kelly held out George and then snatched him away with a smile when Adalind reached for him.

"What law firm do you work at?" Natchez asked Adalind.

"Berman, Rautbort and associates," she said.

"Didn't you work a protection detail there a few years back," Mickelson asked Nick and Nick slid his eyes over to him, unimpressed. "Is that where you two met?" Mickelson said, ignoring Nick's glare.

Adalind glanced at Nick again, not missing the annoyance on his face, and nodded.

"We met before that, actually," Adalind said, "but yes, Nick and Hank were the detectives assigned to protect me." The doors dinged and finally opened up and Nick shoved off the back of the elevator, hand out to firmly guide Adalind out and away from the mini-interrogation.

"Really? How long have you guys been together?" Mickelson asked unabashedly and Nick narrowed his eyes in anger, knowing exactly what he was getting at.

"A while," Adalind hedged, sensing an underlying thread in his question. Nick didn't know if it was better or worse to do so. Would the truth had been better? How did you even explain that?

 _We hated each other for years, until she got pregnant and we decided to declare a truce and live together._

 _We didn't fall in love until about six months or so ago when we finally admitted we had feelings for one another._

 _We weren't involved until months after we had Kelly._

"We've been together a little over a year," Nick said shortly, deciding a slight bending of the truth should suffice. They had been living together for nearly that and thrown together by circumstances since, well, basically the incident in the hallway when Juliette had threatened Adalind at the station. He felt Adalind's eyes on him and guided her away from Natchez and Mickelson, towards his truck, heaving a sigh when they had finally put some distance between them.

"What was that about?" Adalind asked him in a quiet murmur.

Nick shook his head.

%%%%%%%%

"Hey, isn't that Burkhardt's baby mama?" Sounded like Cooper and Nick shifted slightly, wishing Adalind would find whatever the hell it was she was searching for in Kelly's baby bag. He watched her shuffle through the contents methodically, leaning against the front passenger side door he had opened for her before she remembered she needed to look for it.

"Well, she's got a baby with her, so one could infer she's a mama."

"Stellar detective work."

"Smart ass."

"Yeah, that's her," he heard Natchez say. "Just rode down the elevator with her."

"Yeah, she comes in every once in a while with the kid. I think Burkhardt's living with her somewhere."

"Surprised they're still together," Cooper remarked. _If you knew our history, you'd be surprised we're together at all,_ Nick thought, absently listening to Adalind talk about final preparations with Kelly's new daycare. "Usually affairs start out hot and heavy and then cool off by the time you start knocking up your mistress but he seems pretty happy."

"He never talks about the kid, or the woman."

"Adalind's his girlfriend's name. Lawyer."

"I told you I thought she was a lawyer. From that law firm where he worked those two murders?"

"Yup, she said he was the detective assigned to protect her. Also said they had met before that. I asked them how long they'd been together and she acted like she didn't want to admit to how long it had been carrying on between them."

"He said a year," Natchez put in.

"Ashamed is he?"

"Probably, I mean given what happened, it's not much to be proud of. He screwed around with another woman for years and finally got caught."

They quieted for a moment, no doubt watching as Adalind paused in her search, taking notice of Nick's aggravation and stood on her tip toes and looped her arms around his neck, smiling softly at him, having realized he wasn't actively listening to her. He pulled his attention back to her.

"What?" she asked him.

"Thinking," he said. He slid an arm around her waist, then the other and pulled her close, his SUV blocking her from the vultures' view. Kelly watched them and mumbled to himself as he kicked his foot impatiently.

"You're thinking awfully hard over here. I can hear your teeth grinding," she said, looking at him suspiciously.

"Did you find what you're looking for?" he asked.

"No, let me look again," she said sighing, turning back to the bag.

"What _are_ you looking for?" Nick asked her, thinking he might be able facilitate this activity and hurry this along.

"One of the nipple cups for my breast pump," she said, and Nick rocked back on his heels.

"That's all you," he said, and she flashed him a wry look, and Nick suppressed a sigh and resigned himself to listening to more crap about his personal life. Honestly, did they have nothing better to do? Was he really so interesting?

"Hey, you know sometimes the person you were with is not the person you're meant to be with," Bauer was saying. "Obviously something was missing in the relationship with Juliette that he felt he had to look elsewhere for it. Maybe that's why he kept going back to her and just didn't know how to break it off with Juliette."

"You say, _I've found someone else_. Or _this isn't working anymore_. You don't just keep living with the person while you're screwing another woman."

"It's called the best of both worlds, Coop."

"I don't know; I think he's pretty serious about her," Bauer insisted.

"You thought he was pretty serious about Juliette. Christ they lived together for five years. He even bought a house with her. They did everything but get married."

Mickelson snorted. "Wonder why."

"Anyone know what happened to her? It's like one minute she was here and the next gone."

"Uh, you find out the guy you've been living with for the past five years has been fucking another girl for nearly all that time, I don't think I'd hang around and see if he marries her."

"Doubtful she would have gotten an invite to the baby shower."

"Doubtful she would have gone if she did. Poor Juliette. She didn't deserve the way he treated her."

"Probably moved back home. I think she's from California?"

"I thought she was from Washington."

"Who knows."

"She was a damn good vet. My wife was devastated to find out she wasn't working there anymore. Madsen said she up and left there with no notice."

"What do you expect? He humiliated her."

"Yeah, but isn't it weird though? I mean, though, _nobody_ knows where she's at. It's like she's disappeared from the face of the earth."

"Probably found somebody else and settled down somewhere. Women like that don't stay single long unless they want to."

"The kid's gotta be a year old now?" he heard Cooper say.

"About that, I guess. He's walking and talking at any rate."

"Kelly."

"Who?"

"That's the kid's name. Kelly. What kind of name is that anyway?"

"Found it!" Adalind said triumphantly, Kelly and Nick's eyes falling on her.

"Thank god, I'm ready to eat," Nick said, breathing a sigh of relief, and stepping back as he held the door again for her.

%%%%%%%%%


End file.
